Gigi Cestone
Gigi Cestone was a former capo in Tony Soprano's crew. Cestone's first name is never mentioned, although "Gigi" is a derivation of the names "Gianluigi" and "Luigi." A former soldier in the Junior Soprano crew, Gigi defected to Tony Soprano's crew in 2000 following the execution of Philly Parisi (the acting capo of Junior's crew while Junior was incarcerated). The hit was ordered by Tony as revenge for Philly spreading rumors about Tony's mother with regards to Tony and Junior's feud. Gigi was picked up by Philly from the airport, and Philly drove him home. Before exiting the car, Gigi shot Philly twice in the head and, deafened by his own gunshots, made off in another vehicle being driven by Paulie Gualtieri. Gigi was quickly made part of the inner circle of Tony's crew, unlike fellow new member Patsy Parisi. Gigi faced some awkward moments around Patsy as the latter expressed his grief over the loss of his twin brother Philly. Gigi made a final transition in the fall of 2000 when he was granted the role of capo over the Aprile crew, following Richie Aprile's "disappearance" making him the only made guy in the Soprano crime family to serve in three different crews. He wasn't well received by most of his new crew (Donny K, Vito Spatafore, and Eugene Pontecorvo). Ralph Cifaretto took every opportunity to make his life difficult as he had hoped to receive the promotion himself and, Cestone showed clear dislike of Cifaretto. It was also Gigi's idea to have Bobby Bacala, Sr. perform the hit on Mustang Sally, in the episode, "Another Toothpick"; though Tony backs him up on this, both Junior and Ralph feel this shows questionable judgment on Gigi's part. Though a competent soldier, Gigi appeared to be an incompetent capo. Though this was largely due to inexperience, his poor decisions were looked upon unfavorably by the hierarchy. Tony debated stripping Gigi of his captaincy, but was warned this would also reflect poorly on his role as boss should he do so. Gigi died in the episode "He Is Risen", from the undue stress of trying to control a resentful and recalcitrant Ralph, as well as figuring out how to make sufficient money to pay the college tuition of his children. He was last seen at his club excusing himself to use the restroom, but suffered a myocardial infarction immediately afterwards. When the other men noticed Gigi was not breathing, they summoned first responders, but when Gigi was admitted to a local hospital he was declared dead on arrival. At his funeral, the DiMeo crime family looked upon his service as a soldier as opposed to his very short term as capo, and expressed regret at their loss. Tony and Silvio also remarked it was unfortunate Gigi's death occurred in a bathroom, which was also the place where Elvis Presley died. Tony then gave Ralph the long-overdue promotion he yearned for by having Ralph succeed Gigi as capo. Gigi's death also served Tony as it prevented any adverse action on his part, which would have likely had to deal with should Gigi not have died and continued to show poor judgment. In a flashback scene in the episode, "...To Save Us All From Satan's Power", Gigi accompanied Junior to a sit-down with acting boss, Jackie Aprile, Sr., in 1995 following Junior's hijackings of Jackie's trucks. Appearances *'Appears in:' "Guy Walks into a Psychiatrist's Office...", "Do Not Resuscitate", "Big Girls Don't Cry", "Funhouse", "Mr. Ruggerio's Neighborhood", "Proshai, Livushka", "Fortunate Son", "Employee of the Month", "Another Toothpick", "University", "He Is Risen", "...To Save Us All From Satan's Power", "The Test Dream" Category:Males Category:Deceased Category:Caporegime Category:DiMeo crime family Category:Villains